City crews will start collecting leaves on Monday, Nov. 3, in the northern quadrant of the city, between Reynolda Road and Yandkinville Highway to the west and Liberty Street and Old Walkertown Road to the east. Collection will proceed clockwise by quadrant and continue until the leaf trucks have made three passes through each neighborhood.

Citizens can go to Sanitation.CityofWS.org to track the progress of leaf collection and to enter their address for an estimate of when the leaf trucks will be in their neighborhood. Once leaf collection begins, estimated collection dates may be revised frequently, based on weather conditions, equipment problems and the volume of leaves placed out for collection. Residents who do not have access to a computer can call CityLink at 311 and a City Link agent will look up their estimated collection date.

Follow these guidelines:

Rake leaves to the edge of your yard, behind the curb, and not in the street.

NOTE: To accommodate this schedule, all garbage collections for the week after Thanksgiving will be postponed a day: Tuesday on Wednesday, Wednesday on Thursday, etc. Collections for Friday, Dec. 5, will be on Monday, Dec. 8.

A contagious boxwood blight has arrived in Winston-Salem, and to help contain the spread, city officials are urging residents to place infected plants in their regular garbage cart and NOT in their yard-waste cart.

Landfill officials have received state permission to accept boxwood cuttings. No other yard waste will be accepted at the landfill, in keeping with state regulations. City residents may also bring their boxwood waste to the Hanes Mill Road Landfill. Do NOT bring boxwood waste to the city’s Overdale and Forum 52 yard-waste facilities.

Affected boxwoods develop spotted leaves, which then turn brown and fall off. The blight eventually kills the boxwood. Burying infected plants in a landfill is a sure way of preventing the spread of the blight.

Infected cuttings should NOT be placed in yard-waste carts, because the city chips and composts yard waste, which would spread the blight fungus to other boxwoods. Fungus spores can also be spread by humans, insects, animals, and horticultural tools.

Residents who suspect that their boxwoods are infected should double-bag four cuttings, each 6 to 8 inches long, in resealable plastic bags and drop them off at the Forsyth County Cooperative Extension building at 1450 Fairchild Road in Winston-Salem. The cuttings will be sent to the plant-disease diagnostic laboratory at N.C. State University for testing.

For more information about the blight, contact Scott Welborn of the Cooperative Extension Service at 703-2850 or scott_welborn@ncsu.edu.

Make Less Waste This School Year

Waste reduction isn’t only for the home. Follow these tips to reduce the amount of school-related waste!

Waste from packaging accounts for more than 30 percent of all the waste generated each year. Use school supplies wrapped with minimal packaging; use compact or concentrated products; or buy products that come in bulk sizes. Save packaging, colored paper, egg cartons and other items for arts and crafts projects.

If you bring your lunch to school, package it in reusable containers instead of disposable ones, and carry them in a reusable plastic or cloth bag, or lunch box. Bring drinks in a thermos instead of disposable bottles or cartons.

If you buy lunch, take and use only what you need: One napkin, one ketchup packet, one salt packet, one pepper packet, one set of flatware. And, remember to recycle your cans and bottles.

Borrow or rent your decorations and supplies for parties, dances, and proms. If you buy these supplies, try adopting a theme that can be used from year-to-year, so that you can reuse your decorations and supplies.

Use and maintain durable products. Sturdy backpacks and notebooks can be reused for many years, which helps reduce the amount of broken items tossed away each year.

Choose and use a products made from recycled materials, such as pencils made from old blue jeans; binders made from old shipping boxes; and many types of recycled paper products. You can also reuse items like refillable pens, rechargeable batteries, and scrap paper for notes. Using recycled-content and reusing supplies prevents waste and saves you money.

Shop Green on Black Friday

The day after Thanksgiving – sometimes called ‘black Friday” – is the busiest single shopping day of the holiday season. This year, if you’re out on black Friday, remember to shop green:

Not sure what to get someone? How about a gift certificate? That way, you know the gift will be kept or used.

Consider nonmaterial gifts. Tickets to a sporting event, movie, concert, or a play are a real treat that don't require much packaging.

Thousands of paper and plastic bags end up in landfills every year. When you go shopping, bring your own reusable bags and reduce the number of bags thrown out. Tell store clerks that you don’t need a bag for small or oversized purchases.

Always look for items made with recycled content.

Think durable! Consider how long an item will last before you buy it.

Give Gifts, Not Waste!

This holiday season reduce the amount of gift-related waste. Here are some ideas:

Wrap gifts in recycled or reused wrapping paper, funny papers, or colorful squares of old fabric. Also remember to save or recycle used wrapping paper. Give gifts that don't require a lot of wrapping paper, such as concert tickets or gift certificates.

Decorate newsprint, scrap paper or leftover tissue paper with rubber stamps, paint or potato-stamps and use as wrapping paper.

Use those tins you’ve been saving for gift boxes.

Grandparents love gift wrap that has pictures drawn by their grandchildren. Have your kids design wrapping paper using brown paper bags and crayons.

Don’t wrap oversized gifts. Hide them and give the recipient clues. Make the search a treasure hunt!

Make the wrapping a useful part of the gift: put cookies in a flower pot or hide jewelry in a new pair of gloves or socks. Just make sure that the receiver finds the gift if it’s hidden!

Rollout News

For more information about these stories, or to report problem or request services, call City Link at (336) 727-8000 or 311 in Winston-Salem or use the 311 Live Chat icon below to connect with a City Link Agent.

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